This is an indie game in development. As most game developers want and need to believe, this one is also pretty unique. But I have to say that this time it really is true. I'm not saying that the game will be an absolute success and become game of the year but what I am saying is that I have high standards and meeting them might take some time, but the game will be worth the while, once released, I guarantee that. I know this since it comes from a personal need and observation of many years already.
If you happen to be an older gamer, or possibly just pretty hardcore turn-based strategy gamer. You might know such games and terms as: VGA planets ( nowadays it has a HTML5 game in planets.nu ), Steel Panthers, play-by-email, Master of Orion, Civilization, Europa Universalis. These are listed here randomly just to show some things which have given me the inspiration for this project.
The game in it's simplicity is turn-based grand-strategy game, for more hardcore gamers. It works in browsers and turns are played simultaneously, the same way VGA planets, some play-by-email games and some board games work. This means that each player plays their turns by giving orders to their faction. After a certain time, i.e. 2 days, all the orders will be executed by the game server. After the new turn has been generated, the players get to play their next turn. As said, the idea in itself is not new, as play-by-email games and especially VGA planets have done this already. But:
1) There are very few of these and their quality is sometimes questionable
2) Planets.nu is the only game I know of, which has this functionality as browser-game. This is important since it eases starting and continuing to play the game a lot.
3) Most of these are old or otherwise not up to my standards anyway. For example planets.nu is otherwise great, but it lacks several aspects and it seems not to really have evolved during the many years it has existed.
Also the game world that I'm putting in the game is totally different from VGA planets. The game is located in post-apocalyptic earth and depending on how the prototype will work, there are many other new aspects to the general turn-based strategy type (like no clear hexagons or areas to rule).
I have been doing a crude front-end prototype for almost a year already and I'm reaching a point where I have to start doing some testing with the prototype and decide in which direction the game should be developed. So I decided it's time for me to start keeping a blog of this. The blog will be updated approximately once a month or once in 2 weeks.
The blog will consist of a lot of technical issues and views, since I'm mostly a programmer myself. But naturally the game design and other issues (like marketing) will be covered also.
The project is still in a semi-young development phase. But later on the development I will need help to finish the game as something that truly makes a difference and attracts players. I hope that anybody interested in the project will contact me personally. Many different forms of help is appreciated, from coding and graphics to game testing and game mechanic designing (strategy games are not easy in that aspect). I have quite an amount of code done so far and an extensive documentation on the project. Preferred contact by e-mail: japetus(at)saunalahti.fi
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